


Devil In Me

by moonalchemy



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol, College, Dennis Reynolds is a trigger warning by himself you know what youre in for, Drug Use, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 07:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11641746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonalchemy/pseuds/moonalchemy
Summary: Dennis has a little breakdown of his own after Dee is sent to the psych ward.





	Devil In Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is terribly sad and I listened to Mad World while writing it. Title from halseys song devil in me

Mac and Dennis sat in a booth at a sketchy looking bar near Dennis’ university apartment. Just a week ago Dennis had been kicked out of his frat house for, apparently having a total “freak out”, breaking half of the shit in their communal living room, beating the shit out of two of his frat brothers and and threatening to kill everyone with his “god like powers”. Now if you asked Dennis he’d tell you that he couldn’t remember any of it, that they were just jealous of all the amazing babes he was banging, jealous he was getting better grades - he wasn’t-, jealous of his Adonis looks. _Jealous._

Mac felt completely clueless while looking at his best friend’s bony face and bandaged hands. Mac was never good with words, he was good with actions but every action his brain could come up in that moment was some variation of holding Dennis’ hand, holding his whole body and never letting him go - or something. He wasn’t gay or anything like that, he just couldn’t look at Dennis like this, and he knew if he did any of those things he’d probably end up with a black eye. So Mac stayed silent, watching the dimly lit lights of the bar change from red to green to blue, took out two pills from his pocket, passed the one to Dennis and swallowed his with a sip of beer. 

 

Someone kept playing the same old song at the jukebox. 

“I hate this song.” Dennis said with a bored voice.  
“I dont know, I think I like it.”  
“You _think_ you like it?”  
“Whatever.” Mac looked nervously around him, begging his brain to find a way to bring up the elephant in the room without making Dennis shut down.  
“So..”  
“So.”  
“Dee is in the hospital”  
“Thanks for the info Mac, I totally didn’t know that. I’m not her brother or anything.”  
“Okay okay chill out Den... I’m just..”  
“Just what Mac?” Dennis asked, clearly getting irritated now.  
“You got kicked out dude, you sent two guys to the hospital, you-”  
“Are you just going to keep telling me facts I already know Mac? And I didn’t -, it wasn’t like-”  
“Den..”  
Dennis let out a small laugh that sounded more like the start of a sob and slammed back the rest of his beer. “Let’s do some shots,” he said and walked up to the bar to get them. Mac watched him get up, feeling his face take on a nervous expression. He already knew how the night would be ending. 

“Let’s doooo this.” Dennis arrived at their booth with a tray with three shots for each.  
Quickly they both chugged all three of them and let themselves feel the effects of the drugs and booze combo. Soon their limbs felt more relaxed, their knees slightly touching under the table, but enough for Mac to be aware of it. 

-

“Fuck,” Dennis grunted, running both of his hands through his hair.  
“The alcohol hitting you?”  
“Yeah.” 

“You know it’s funny…” Dennis said, starting to slur his words.  
“Mhmm?”  
“It’s funny that Dee is the one like, locked up in the looney bin because dude, her roommate,  
she was like - a total bitch dude. I did her the favor to hit on her once and she wouldn’t even sleep with me! Her tits weren’t even that big...So like, who even cares?”  
“Dude, your sister is like, a total psycho! She set her roommate on fire! Are you saying the bitch roommate should be locked up because her tits were small?”  
“What? No Mac, you’re not getting me at all bro…I’m saying..” Dennis was visibly upset now, but Mac couldn’t let it go.  
“What are you saying?”  
“What I’m saying Mac is that maybe Dee wasn’t the Reynolds who needed to get send at the fucking psych ward is what I’m fucking saying!”  
"Don't say that Den..You don't.."  
"Sometimes I get..really fucked up Mac and I think.." Mac knew that. He knew that Dennis would get just a little bit more fucked up than the rest of them, he knew that. He knew how the rest of that sentence was supposed to go. Dennis has said it once before back in high school, a memory painful enough to still cut hit stomach in pieces. He knew what those words sounded like coming out of his best friend's mouth and he didn't want to hear them again.  
"We all get fucked up. The Dee thing is just making you all paranoid right now."

"Would you visit me? If I set someone on fire?" Mac reached out and before he had time to realize what he was doing he covered Dennis' hand with his own.  
"Of course I would bro. I'm sure you'd have a good reason."  
"Dee had a good reason. And you said she was crazy," and with that, he quickly let go of Mac's hand.  
"What do you want me to say, Dennis? Look, you're kinda freaking me out here man and -"  
"Let's go. I wanna leave."  
"Fine, fine.”

-

Back at the apartment, Dennis barely managed to get out his clothes before quickly slipping under the covers.  
"You coming?"  
"I don't know man, isn't it uh..I don't want to be in your space and..stuff"  
"Mac, are you kidding me right now? You've slept in my tiny dorm room bed and this isn't spacey enough for you?"  
"No, no you're ... Have any sweats I can borrow?"  
"Top drawer."

Mac quickly took off his clothes and slipped in, turning his back at Dennis. Mac was just about to start drifting off when he felt a warm hand on his back.  
"Hey, Mac?"  
"Hmmm?"  
"I missed you," he said and brought his hand to Mac's side. Mac immediately intertwined their fingers and let Dennis wrap himself around him. Mac was a man of actions after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Dont forget; comments keep people motivated and make their days :)


End file.
